Crown crimper



J. KANTOR 2,359,562

' CROWN CRIMPER Filed April 12, 1943 INVENTOR. JZ'MEs Kan roe Patented Oct. 3, 1944- CROWN CRIIVIPER James Kantor, Chicago, 111., assignor to The Liquid Carbonic Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application April 12, 1943, Serial No. 482,665

4 Claims. (Cl. 22684) The present invention relates to improvements in bottle or container crowning apparatus and more particularly, the invention relates to apparatus for applying plastic crowns to a container, hereinafter referred to as a bottle, and

compressing the skirt of the plastic crown around the bead of the bottle.

One of the difiiculties in handling the present type of plastic crowns on present crowning machines primarily designed for metal crowns is that, due to the difierence in the material as compared to metal crowns, the skirt of the crown is considerably thicker than the skirt of a metal crown and even after being crimped around the neckof the bottle, this skirt is so much thicker that there is not a clearance space in the opening in the crown rest for thepassage of the crown through the crowning rest without danger of the edges of the skirt of th crown being caught on the crown rest and either the crown being torn from the bottle or the bottle broken.

At the same time, the throat surrounding the crown rest cannot be unduly large due to the fact that with too much clearance between the reinforcing ring of the bottle and the throat of the crown rest, there would be danger of the bottle being. displaced sidewise sufficiently to cause the crimped crown skirt to catch on the crown support and either damage the crown or the bottle.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a crowning mechanism, particularly adapted for handling the type of plastic crown which has been commercially developed recently to take the place of th heretofore used metal crown, and to provide a crown applying mechanism and a crown support particularly adapted for handling plastic crowns which need no heating for securing to the bottle.

For the purpose of disclosing the invention, I have illustrated an embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig, 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the reciprocating crowning mechanism embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing the parts in receiving position;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a detail section of the type of crown primarily adapted for use in the specific structure illustrated.

In the embodiment illustrated, I provide a re ciprocating housing I which reciprocates within a sleeve 2 forming a part of the crowning head housing 3. There are, preferably, a plurality of such heads rotating for the purpose of positioning each crowner above a bottle as it is fed into the machine for the purpose of crowning the bottle. Thi housin I carries at its upper end a roller 4 adapted to make contact with a relatively stationarily mounted cam for causing reciprocative movement of the housing. Within the housing I is mounted a hollow plunger 5, the upper end of which projects through a narrowed neck 6 and carries, at its upper end, a retaining flanged nut I which prevents the downward movement of the plunger 5 beyond a predetermined point. The lower end of the plunger 5 is provided with an enlargement 8 which receives a plunger housing 9 threaded thereon. The enlargement 8 in the top of the plunger housing 9 forms a shoulder between which and the restricted portion at the top of the housing I i arranged a coiled spring II] adapted to bias the plunger 5 in its projected position. Within the plunger housing 9, I arrange a hollow supplemental plunger II which is moved toward its projected position through the medium of a coiled spring I2 arranged within the plunger and bearing, at its top, against a spring washer I3 seated in the main plunger 5. The supplemental plunger I I is prevented from being forced out of the housing beyond its normal projected position by means of an annular flange I4 which is adapted to engage a retaining ring I5 mounted within the housing, 7

Disposed within the plunger housing 9 and on either side of the plunger II is a pair of crown holder operating segments ends H which fit between the ring I5 and a shoulder I8 on the housing, the shoulder and ring at this point being concave to form a rounded bearing. Each of these segment members I6 is provided with an inwardly projecting truncated V-shaped projection 20 which is adapted to fit in an annular groove 2| 'formed in the plunger I I so that as the plunger moves relatively to the segments, the segments themselves will be spread for a purpose to .be more fully hereinafter explained.

The crown rest 22 is supported from the housing 9 and therefore from the plunger 5 through the medium of a pair of vertically extending pins 23 screwed into ears 24 on the housing 9 and extending through openings in the crown rest 22. The bottom ends of these pins have groove 25 formed therein which receive cross holding pins 26 extending through the crown rest. These I6 having rounded holding pins are slotted, as at 21, so that the pins may be rotated to brin the slots into position to permit the removal of the crown rest as desired.

This crown rest is provided with a central opening having a flared wall 28 for guiding the bottle neck into position and the bottle neck is adapted to pass through the center opening. Arranged within a recess 29 formed in the top surface of the crown rest is a pair of segmental crown supports 30, each being of the same construction and provided with a crown rest ledge or shoulder 3|. The segments are pivotally mounted on the crown rest on pivot pins 32 and each segment is provided with an opening for the reception of a rounded end 33 of an operating segment I6, Each segment is provided with a rear extension, through extension 34, through which the pivot pins 32 are adapted to pass, and each segment is provided with an elongated re cess 35 on its adjacent face to provide a groove or recess between the rear ends of the segments. It is to be noted that this groove or recess is enlarged, as at 36, to provide an enlarged pocket at the inner end of the recess. Operating between the rear ends of the segments 34 and between the fingers thus formed and in the recess 35 is an operating lever 31 pivoted, at 38, on a pin extending through an ear 39 formed on the housing 9; The upper end of this lever is biased outwardly by means of a coiled spring 40 interposed between the lever and the side of the housing 9 to bias the lower end of the lever inwardly so that its normal position, unless otherwise restrained, would be in the enlarged portion 36 of the recess 35 and when the lever is in its biased position there would be suflicient clearance to permit the segments to swin on their pivots 32 into an open or spread position.

An opening 4| is provided between the crown rest and the housing 9 to permit the insertion into position, from the crown chute (not shown), of a crown on the crown rest ledge 3| of the crown supporting segments. In order to hold the crown rest segments and jaws in their open position when they have been swung open by the se ments Hi, I provide a friction plunger 42 in each of the jaws, which is biased vertically upwardly by means of a coiled spring 43, and this plunger bears on the bottom face of the housing 9 and the plunger II which thus offer a. friction resistance to insure the jaws remaining open when they have once been opened by the operation of the parts.

Inoperation, assuming that the crown rest segments or jaws 30 are in their closed position and a crown is carried on the crown rest ledges or shoulders 3|, as the housing I descends, the bottle will pass through the opening in the crown rest receiving a crown on its top. The continued rest sections or segments 30 open on their pins 32. This can be accomplished because by this time the upper end of the lever with its roller 44 has passed the stationary cam member 45 secured in the crowning head housing 3 and, accordingly, the lower end of this lever will have been swung into the enlarged recess 36 under the influence of the coiled spring 40. Of course, at this time, the support for the crown will have been removed due to the spreading of the segments but it must be borne in mind that the crown is firmly held in position on the top of the bottle by means of the plunger l I.

In order to insure the opening of the segments 30, beside the coil spring 40, I provide a cam 46 which, during the descent of the sleeve 2 and the crowning ,head, will engage the lower end of the lever 31 forcing the same into the enlarged portion 36 of the notch 35.

By the time the sleeve 2 has reached the lower limit of its projecting movement and commences to raise as a result of the roller 44 riding over a lowered portion of its controlling earn, the

crown will have been firmly seated on the bottle cam forcing the lower end of the lever out wardly and into the narrowed portion of the slot 35 thus forcing the segments together into their closed and crown seating position, it being understood that by this time the V-shaped projections 20 will have again entered the annular groove 2! in the plunger I6.

I claim as my invention: 7 a

1. In a crowning machine, in combination, a reciprocating support, a plunger mounted within said support and biased in its projected position, a crown 'rest carried at the lower end, of said plunger and having a bottle-receiving throat therein, crown supporting segments carried by said crown rest, a secondary plunger carried by i, said first-mentioned plunger and movable reladownward movement of the sleeve 2 causes the I V tle seating the crown and securing it in position.

During this upward movement of the plunger H, the V-shaped projections 20 will move out of the groove 2| thereby spreading the segments H5 at their lower ends thus swinging the crown tively thereto by engagement with the bottle to be crowned, means operated by the relative movement between said secondary and primary plunger for positively swinging said crown supports into open position, and means operated by the vertical reciprocation of said support for positively moving said crown rest segments into closed position.

2. Ina crowning machine, in combination, a

reciprocating support,'a reciprocable plunger carried by said support and biased into its projected position, a crown rest carried by said support, a pair of crowning supporting'segments carried by said crown rest and swingable into open and closed position, means operated by the reciprocating,

jected position, a crown rest carried by said support and including a pair of horizontally displaceable crown supporting segments, means operated by the reciprocation of said crown support for moving said crown supporting segments into crown supporting position, and means operated by the reciprocating movement of said plunger induced by its engagement with the bottle for moving said segments into crown releasing position.

4. In a crowning machine, in combination, a reciprocating support, a primary plunger carried by said support and biased in its projected posi tion, a crown rest carried at the lower end of said plunger, including a pair of crown supporting segments swingable horizontally into crown supporting position and into crown releasing position, a pair of swingable segments, one engaging each of said crown supporting segments, a

secondary plunger movable relatively to said primary plunger by engagement with the bottle to be crowned, means operated by said secondary plunger for moving said swingable segments to move said crown supporting segments into releasing position, and means operated by the reciprocating movement of said primary plunger for positively removing said segments into supporting position.

JAMES KANTOR. 

